Fridrik Olafsson, a chess grandmaster who helped make his native Iceland a bastion of the sport, partly by defeating 4 world champions, together with Bobby Fischer, the dominant American participant, died on Friday in Reykjavík, the nation’s capital. He was 90.
The loss of life, in a hospital, was introduced by the Worldwide Chess Federation, the sport’s governing physique. He was the group’s president from 1978 to 1982, when it was often called the World Chess Federation.
Mr. Olafsson’s rise to the heights of chess was surprising; Iceland was not often called a chess powerhouse on the time. However by the Eighties, largely due to his instance, it had extra grandmasters per capita than every other nation.
Nearly totally self-taught, Mr. Olafsson realized the sport by watching his father play.
In the future, when he was 7 or 8, he was intently finding out his father’s strikes on the chessboard in a pleasant match in opposition to a relative, Mr. Olafsson recalled in an interview for this obituary in 2014. “I bear in mind saying he was not enjoying so nicely,” he mentioned of his father. His father replied that if Fridrik thought he might do higher, he ought to take his place. Fridrik did, and received.
He performed in his first event at age 11. When he was 13, he was at grasp degree and among the many high 15 gamers in Iceland. At 17, he received the nationwide championship, the primary of six such titles.
He went on to win the 1953 Scandinavian championship and share first place with Viktor Korchnoi, top-of-the-line gamers of the twentieth century, within the 1955-56 Hastings Worldwide Chess Congress, then one of many high tournaments on this planet, held in Hastings, England.
In 1958, he certified for the Interzonal Match in Portoroz, Yugoslavia, the place he met, after which beat, Mr. Fischer. He and Mr. Fischer tied for fifth place, which certified them for the Candidates Match, held to pick a challenger for the world championship. His play in that event earned Mr. Olafsson the best title in chess, grandmaster, making him one in every of about 50 on this planet on the time.
Within the Candidates Match in 1959, additionally in Yugoslavia, he didn’t do as nicely, ending seventh amongst eight contenders. “I used to be probably not ready,” he mentioned. “I simply got here up too shortly.”
He would by no means compete in that event once more.
Whereas he continued to compete often, Mr. Olafsson started focusing extra on changing into a lawyer, finding out on the Icelandic Academy of Regulation and the College of Iceland, after which working within the Icelandic Ministry of Justice.
However then, in 1972, Reyjavik was chosen as the location of the world championship between Mr. Fischer and Boris Spassky, the reigning champion from Russia.
Mr. Fischer received, in what turned often called the “Match of the Century,” sparking worldwide curiosity in chess. It additionally reawakened Mr. Olafsson’s ardour for the sport. He determined to take one other stab at enjoying professionally.
“I needed to see how a lot I might obtain,” he mentioned.
His second stint was not profitable, although he did tie for first in an annual event in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, forward of high gamers like Mikhail Tal, the previous world champion.
Mr. Olafsson was elected the fourth president of the World Chess Federation in 1978. His tenure was dominated by points surrounding the rivalry between Anatoly Karpov, the champion from the Soviet Union, and Mr. Korchnoi, a former Soviet star who had defected to the West in 1976.
Mr. Karpov and Mr. Korchnoi had performed for the championship within the Philippines simply earlier than Mr. Olafsson took workplace, in what had simply been the bitterest match in historical past: Mr. Karpov retained the title by successful six video games and shedding 5, with 21 extra ending in attracts.
In 1981, Mr. Korchnoi once more certified to face Mr. Karpov, this time in Italy. However Mr. Korchnoi’s spouse, Bella, and son, Igor, had been denied exit visas to depart the Soviet Union; Igor had been imprisoned for refusing to hitch the Soviet military.
Mr. Olafsson sought to realize their launch and postponed the match for 3 months as he traveled to Moscow to barter. Ultimately, the Soviet authorities agreed to launch the members of the family, however solely after the match, which Mr. Karpov received simply.
Regardless of the decision, the Soviet authorities lobbied in opposition to Mr. Olafsson’s re-election as federation president in 1982, throwing their assist to Florencio Campomanes, a Filipino, who received the job. Mr. Olafsson retired from chess a second time. In 1983, he was appointed secretary of the Icelandic Parliament and held that publish for 22 years till his retirement in 2005.
He was born in Reykjavík on Jan. 26, 1935.
His survivors embody his spouse, Audur Juliusdottir; his daughters, Bergljot and Aslaug; 5 grandchildren; and 5 great-grandchildren.
Over his profession, Mr. Olafsson recorded two victories every over Mr. Fischer, Mr. Tal and Tigran Petrosian, an Armenian-Soviet participant who was world champion for six years earlier than Mr. Spassky gained the title.
He additionally confronted Mr. Karpov in a world championship event, in Buenos Aires in 1980, however below curious circumstances. Mr. Olafsson was attending its opening ceremony as head of the World Chess Federation when one competitor didn’t present up; Mr. Olafsson was recruited to fill the emptiness. And that led him to a match in opposition to Mr. Karpov, who was thought-about all however unbeatable on the time.
Mr. Olafsson received, changing into the one sitting president of the federation to beat the reigning world champion in an official competitors.
Ash Wu contributed reporting.
